Regarded as one of the country’s most hard working and gifted veterinary surgeons, Philip McManus is a partner in Galway City’s Glenina Vet Clinic, as well as operating the Rockmount AI Centre in Claregalway.
“Neven Maguire country. Blacklion in west Cavan, near Cuilcagh Mountain. That time it was classed as backward, now it’s scenic,” Philip says about his native Cavan, where his father kept an Irish Draught mare, alongside cattle and sheep on their farm.
“I’m still in a very mixed practice but it has changed down through the years with small animals and horses taking over. I always was fanatical about horses.”
His daughter Emer followed his career path and is working in a large animal practice in Co Monaghan, while he and wife Geraldine’s other three children – John, Martin and Claire – are students, from PhD to Leaving Certificate level.
Quick pace
The pace is picking up on daily rounds. “It gets busy once you get into March, between Connemaras and mares, although a lot of the time it wouldn’t be intense. You’re going but it’s not pressurised,” he says, agreeing that, for many veterinary surgeons, the job is more of a vocation.
“There’s a lot of pony and farmer-breeders in our practice. Now, it is getting less – there’s no question about that. When the son takes over the farm and it’s not as economically viable to keep horses, he’s looking at pounds and shillings. He wants it to make money like any other agricultural enterprise.
“There are a lot of agricultural enterprises not making money, a lot of farming enterprises are depressed at the moment, between Brexit and cattle prices.
“Sheep are going okay and a quality horse will always sell, but if you haven’t a quality horse, the economics are not great.”
There’s no €500 locum call-out fee at night with him or his partners.
“I’d say a lot of veterinary surgeons were annoyed about that,” says Philip.
“There’s 99.9% of veterinary surgeons that go out at night to their clients, maybe some charge a little extra than a callout during the day, most don’t.
“This is just one practice that got a lot of bad publicity over something they did.”
Corporate takeovers of veterinary practices began in America in the mid-1950s and a number of Irish practices were bought up in recent years.
“If you wanted to quit and get out, it would be a good option. Although if veterinary practices were capable of making those sums of money, we must be awful eejits not to try and hold on to them, if they’re that valuable,” remarks Philip.
Galway Equestrian Centre’s Tomás O’Brien with Codarco’s dam Vereendom G and Philip. “The man is an absolute saint,” said O’Brien, singing McManus’s praises. \ Susan Finnerty
Mother nature
A fan of homeopathy and acupuncture, as well as conventional veterinary medicine, Philip has some practical tips for breeders. A good teaser is invaluable and he advises owners to “stick close to Mother Nature” when feeding horses. His own herd, including the brilliant Connemara stallion Silver Shadow, are fed oats, oat balancer and flaxseed
He’s noticed some changes in breeding practices: “A growing number are all into tonics. This has all been developed in cattle and sheep for fertility, now they’re applying it to the horse to increase the chances of having the mare go in foal and a healthy foal with good bone and development. I don’t know if it’s vital, it’s an aid when you’re trying to do everything in your favour.”
Another observation is how younger, less-fashionable stallions are more popular on the continent. He himself has used the up-and-coming Andiamo Semilly. “The continental breeders are using a herd model but they have larger herd models and these stallions are highly genetically-bred.
“They’ll use them for a year or two at a reduced fee at the start of his career. If you had the same young stallions here I don’t know if you’d get anybody to use them.
“Our attitude is different, we want to use the top and only the top. Quite often we’re trying to sell them as foals, otherwise you’re going to have twice as many horses the next year, whereas the continental breeder will hold on until they’re two and three-year-olds.
“You can sell cattle and sheep when they reach a set weight for a set price but that’s not an economic option for a horse.”
He is pragmatic on the subject of using more thoroughbred blood, saying: “That’s great if you got paid for it. That said, quality breeds quality and the top thoroughbred at the likes of Coolmore is a mechanically very sound, perfect animal. They have to be to win races.”
Philip feels that most breeders have few options but to house horses over the winter, although exercise is important.
“The way the Irish winters have changed, there’s not many people have the option of putting horses out on land. They may put them out into a sand arena. You’d want to have land enough to sacrifice and there’s not many people that have that rough area to put them out on.”
“The thing about veterinary is you’re going to have serious ups and downs. You’re dealing with sick and dying animals or mares that don’t go in foal. There’s so many disappointments, that when something goes well, it’s actually more enjoyable for us. It’s a great buzz.”
Cutting edge
“The cutting edge technology on the continent at the moment is they’re extracting the good mare’s eggs, culturing them and sending them abroad to these centres that can fertilise them in-vitro with very low doses of semen.
“I’ve applied to go to one of these centres in Italy and see how they do this. They have the advantage that they have these embryos at the ideal stage for freezing. It’s very successful, because one straw can do multiple embryos.”
Although small, the number of embryo transfer procedures is increasing at Rockmount AI Centre. “If you’ve a really, really top mare that’s going well, it would be a big blow to take her out of competition and breed from her for a year or two. And then you’ve other people that are sentimentally attached to a mare and they want to take an embryo off her. We love it, the whole thing of seeing a new embryo and watching the development,” adds Philip.
“You have to have perfect x-rays now, they want them done for kissing spines, done for everything. We had to change our system to a €40,000 unit, you don’t take ordinary x-rays anymore.”
A cheaper diagnostic tool is the mobile phone. Clients occasionally send photos to Philip for advice, on whether a wound needs stitching or a video of a lame horse, for example. “It can be handy but it depends on the quality of the picture,” says Philip, who will still want to see the four-legged patient.
“The power of the phone and Facebook is frightening. It was only a couple of years ago, we were texting and now your phone does emails or plug it into your car and it’s your map.”
While he literally has “no time” for social media, one important area is upskilling and it is compulsory for veterinary surgeons to carry on with the Veterinary Council of Ireland’s Continuing Veterinary Education (CVE).
“You have to do that every year, you have to go to a couple of courses and gather points to stay on the register.
“The internet, word-of-mouth, articles in veterinary magazines and videos of how to do things online – there’s loads of information.
“It’s easy to get the information, putting it into practical use may be harder!”
Regarded as one of the country’s most hard working and gifted veterinary surgeons, Philip McManus is a partner in Galway City’s Glenina Vet Clinic, as well as operating the Rockmount AI Centre in Claregalway.
“Neven Maguire country. Blacklion in west Cavan, near Cuilcagh Mountain. That time it was classed as backward, now it’s scenic,” Philip says about his native Cavan, where his father kept an Irish Draught mare, alongside cattle and sheep on their farm.
“I’m still in a very mixed practice but it has changed down through the years with small animals and horses taking over. I always was fanatical about horses.”
His daughter Emer followed his career path and is working in a large animal practice in Co Monaghan, while he and wife Geraldine’s other three children – John, Martin and Claire – are students, from PhD to Leaving Certificate level.
Quick pace
The pace is picking up on daily rounds. “It gets busy once you get into March, between Connemaras and mares, although a lot of the time it wouldn’t be intense. You’re going but it’s not pressurised,” he says, agreeing that, for many veterinary surgeons, the job is more of a vocation.
“There’s a lot of pony and farmer-breeders in our practice. Now, it is getting less – there’s no question about that. When the son takes over the farm and it’s not as economically viable to keep horses, he’s looking at pounds and shillings. He wants it to make money like any other agricultural enterprise.
“There are a lot of agricultural enterprises not making money, a lot of farming enterprises are depressed at the moment, between Brexit and cattle prices.
“Sheep are going okay and a quality horse will always sell, but if you haven’t a quality horse, the economics are not great.”
There’s no €500 locum call-out fee at night with him or his partners.
“I’d say a lot of veterinary surgeons were annoyed about that,” says Philip.
“There’s 99.9% of veterinary surgeons that go out at night to their clients, maybe some charge a little extra than a callout during the day, most don’t.
“This is just one practice that got a lot of bad publicity over something they did.”
Corporate takeovers of veterinary practices began in America in the mid-1950s and a number of Irish practices were bought up in recent years.
“If you wanted to quit and get out, it would be a good option. Although if veterinary practices were capable of making those sums of money, we must be awful eejits not to try and hold on to them, if they’re that valuable,” remarks Philip.
Galway Equestrian Centre’s Tomás O’Brien with Codarco’s dam Vereendom G and Philip. “The man is an absolute saint,” said O’Brien, singing McManus’s praises. \ Susan Finnerty
Mother nature
A fan of homeopathy and acupuncture, as well as conventional veterinary medicine, Philip has some practical tips for breeders. A good teaser is invaluable and he advises owners to “stick close to Mother Nature” when feeding horses. His own herd, including the brilliant Connemara stallion Silver Shadow, are fed oats, oat balancer and flaxseed
He’s noticed some changes in breeding practices: “A growing number are all into tonics. This has all been developed in cattle and sheep for fertility, now they’re applying it to the horse to increase the chances of having the mare go in foal and a healthy foal with good bone and development. I don’t know if it’s vital, it’s an aid when you’re trying to do everything in your favour.”
Another observation is how younger, less-fashionable stallions are more popular on the continent. He himself has used the up-and-coming Andiamo Semilly. “The continental breeders are using a herd model but they have larger herd models and these stallions are highly genetically-bred.
“They’ll use them for a year or two at a reduced fee at the start of his career. If you had the same young stallions here I don’t know if you’d get anybody to use them.
“Our attitude is different, we want to use the top and only the top. Quite often we’re trying to sell them as foals, otherwise you’re going to have twice as many horses the next year, whereas the continental breeder will hold on until they’re two and three-year-olds.
“You can sell cattle and sheep when they reach a set weight for a set price but that’s not an economic option for a horse.”
He is pragmatic on the subject of using more thoroughbred blood, saying: “That’s great if you got paid for it. That said, quality breeds quality and the top thoroughbred at the likes of Coolmore is a mechanically very sound, perfect animal. They have to be to win races.”
Philip feels that most breeders have few options but to house horses over the winter, although exercise is important.
“The way the Irish winters have changed, there’s not many people have the option of putting horses out on land. They may put them out into a sand arena. You’d want to have land enough to sacrifice and there’s not many people that have that rough area to put them out on.”
“The thing about veterinary is you’re going to have serious ups and downs. You’re dealing with sick and dying animals or mares that don’t go in foal. There’s so many disappointments, that when something goes well, it’s actually more enjoyable for us. It’s a great buzz.”
Cutting edge
“The cutting edge technology on the continent at the moment is they’re extracting the good mare’s eggs, culturing them and sending them abroad to these centres that can fertilise them in-vitro with very low doses of semen.
“I’ve applied to go to one of these centres in Italy and see how they do this. They have the advantage that they have these embryos at the ideal stage for freezing. It’s very successful, because one straw can do multiple embryos.”
Although small, the number of embryo transfer procedures is increasing at Rockmount AI Centre. “If you’ve a really, really top mare that’s going well, it would be a big blow to take her out of competition and breed from her for a year or two. And then you’ve other people that are sentimentally attached to a mare and they want to take an embryo off her. We love it, the whole thing of seeing a new embryo and watching the development,” adds Philip.
“You have to have perfect x-rays now, they want them done for kissing spines, done for everything. We had to change our system to a €40,000 unit, you don’t take ordinary x-rays anymore.”
A cheaper diagnostic tool is the mobile phone. Clients occasionally send photos to Philip for advice, on whether a wound needs stitching or a video of a lame horse, for example. “It can be handy but it depends on the quality of the picture,” says Philip, who will still want to see the four-legged patient.
“The power of the phone and Facebook is frightening. It was only a couple of years ago, we were texting and now your phone does emails or plug it into your car and it’s your map.”
While he literally has “no time” for social media, one important area is upskilling and it is compulsory for veterinary surgeons to carry on with the Veterinary Council of Ireland’s Continuing Veterinary Education (CVE).
“You have to do that every year, you have to go to a couple of courses and gather points to stay on the register.
“The internet, word-of-mouth, articles in veterinary magazines and videos of how to do things online – there’s loads of information.
“It’s easy to get the information, putting it into practical use may be harder!”
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